Humor is infectious. It lightens burdens, inspires hope, connects us to others, increases our insight, keeps us grounded, focused, alert, and happy.
Laughter is a universal language that stimulates both sides of the brain. It allows us to get messages quicker and remember them longer. We all learn more when we are having fun. Writing this blog is a creative exploration in sharing thoughts that make me laugh, smile, or think. Thinking is the source of laughter. Welcome and have a nice day!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Contentment: A Progressive State

Contentment
is defined as a state of happiness and joy that comes from having reached a
state of satisfaction. While it has been argued that this state of satisfaction
could impede one’s growth, the counterclaim is instead a logical fallacy of
correlation versus causation.

Phrenological
mapping, a classic case of correlation versus causation, is a pseudoscience
that rose to popularity in the late 18th century. Developed by
German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796, phrenology purported that (based on
the concept that the brain is an organ of the mind) certain brain areas have
localized, specific functions or modules. Today regarded as an obsolete
amalgamation of primitive neuroanatomy with moral philosophy, the belief that
contentment impedes one’s growth or progress is equally primitive in its
understanding of “state” with respect to movement versus repair and maintenance.

Where
propositions are said to be true or false, states are said to obtain or not. In this respect, the proposition that satisfaction is not present in movement, which is associated with progress, is false. In order to support the claim that contentment is an inhibitor
to progress, one must assert the following propositions:

·For progress to exist, movement must be present.

·Movement is not present in satisfaction.

·Therefore, satisfaction cannot exist in
progress.

Let us consider the first two propositions:

“For progress to exist, movement must be
present.”With respect to movement
patterns in spatiotemporal data (data belong to both space and time or to
space-time), the nature of progress involves movement from one space in time or
state to another. Discovery and learning are direct results of movement from
one state to another. As new information is presented, processing occurs. This
processing is what one might call progress or expansion to include new
information. In this respect, I would agree with the first proposition.

“Movement is not present in satisfaction.” Over the past few decades, ‘positive
psychology’ has put the notion of ‘happiness’ at the forefront of scientific
and psychological research. Such happiness is often described in terms of
contentment or ‘life-satisfaction’, and is measured by means of
self-assessments.

Historically,
desire theories evolved with the emergence of welfare economics. Pleasure and
pain are inside people’s heads, thus economists began to see people’s
well-being consisting in the satisfaction of preferences and desires, the
content of which could be revealed by the person experiencing the state. The
ranking of preferences gave rise to the development of ‘utility functions’ for
individuals, and methods for assessing the value of preference-satisfaction.

The
simplest version and also the argument chosen to counter the second proposition exists in
the version of desire theory called the present desire theory, according to
which someone is made better off to the extent that their current desires are
fulfilled. If for example one is satisfied or content with what they define as
existing in a state of active and continual growth and progress, the sensation
of satisfaction is operating in conjunction with progress. Just as the brain’s
drainage system, called the glymphatic system, flushes fluid from the brain and
spinal cord into the space between brain cells which contract at night allowing
cerebrospinal fluid to rush into the brain’s interstitial space and wash away
debris, so too does the state of satisfaction work as a faucet to clear out
stagnant thoughts or exhaustion that arise as a direct result of being in a
constant state of progressive movement. In this sense, satisfaction is an
integral part of the state progress.

Satisfaction
serves progress just as sleep serves the brain’s ability to wash away toxins.
Being in a constant state of movement associated with progress is akin to
insomnia, the sleep disorder characterized by the inability to fall asleep or
stay asleep as long as desired. Chronic insomnia can cause muscular fatigue,
hallucinations, mental fatigue, and/or death, as seen in prion-based fatal
familial insomnia.

If
contentment is satisfaction’s primary task, it is an integral part of human
progress that serves additional functions besides clearing out the negative
effects of exhaustion associated with movement. Contentment, in this respect,
is integral to well-being.

Physical
well-being must exist for progress to be sustained. Thus, the subjective interpretation
of pleasurable experiences found in contentment must also exist for progress to
be sustained.

The
argument for contentment as an integral aspect of progress can thus be
presented as:

"My Bad" (Disclaimer)

A number of the images I post are not my original artwork. Much is sent to me by friends, some I find on Facebook or floating around the Internet. Whenever possible, I site the original artist. If I cannot find the original artist, and YOU are the original artist or you know the original artist, please contact me so that I can site the work accordingly. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience. Please know, if your original artwork was used, it was used for good!